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Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Watercolour Resist Box Tutorial

Hello friends! Today I have a watercolour resist tutorial to share with you made for this month's Eileen Hull Art With Heart challenge 'Choose your own theme'.

I love to read and from when I started reading up until my twenties or so, I had what I called a 'book book', where I documented all the books that I read; the author, number of pages, year of publication, a short summary and if there were any quotes that I liked. I found one of my 'book books' the other day and it was fun to look through it. At some stage I stopped doing that and the other day I realised that even though I often mark quotes on my Kindle, I rarely go back and look for them, and somehow it is a little harder to remember which books I read when they are not physical books on the shelf. So I thought I'd make a little project where I can jot down some details about books that I particularly liked.

I had fun using my new Brusho Crystal Colours here, I just love seeing the magic when they blend. As soon as I have played around with them some more, I'll do a video. You can see another project I made with them here

Start by die cutting the Box w/Scalloped Flap from white mat board. This is an XL die and it needs the Extended Cutting Pads. Use this sandwich: Extended Cutting Pad, die facing up, mat board, second Extended Cutting Pad. I ended up not using the two little flowers. 

I used stamps by Darkroom Door on this project and started by white embossing the French Script background stamp on the box. I brushed some of the powder away, for a more distressed look. Also, brush the powder off from the flaps before you melt it, since melted powder makes it harder to adhere the project together.

Now to the really fun part. I misted the mat board with water and sprinkled Emerald Green, Turquoise, Light Brown and Grey Brusho crystals on the mat board. You need very little. Mist again to make them blend more. When the mat board was dry, I coloured it on the inside too.

For the journaling cards, I cut 2.8 x 3.6 in rectangles from smooth (hot press) watercolour paper. Add a little bit of Brusho Crystals in a paint palette and add some water. I always use a plastic pipette to add water, since it gives me great control. Mix to make watercolour paint. Mist the paper and paint sort of randomly, using the same four colours as for the box. If you want to, you can sprinkle just a few crystals here and there into the wet paint.

I made one side of each card a little darker and one side lighter. These are the lighter sides, for the writing.

When the cards were dry, I stamped them with various Darkroom Door images and words, using Watering Can ink. The grey ink gives a softer look than black. I also used the Splatter stamp to add some texture.

Round the corners of the cards.

Die cut a bird and two leaves with the Birds & Butterflies set from a left over piece of coloured watercolour paper. Die cut a second bird to place underneath the first one, since the wing will be folded up.
The bird was stamped with another script stamp and Watering Can ink and given an eye. It was inked with Hickory Smoke.

I stamped this wonderful sentiment on a left over piece of paper and cut it into strips. The twine both keeps the box close and serves as a nest for the bird. I used hot glue to assemble the box.

I like the combination of script and a typed font.

Glue the leaves in the corner.

I love the blended colours of this project. The Emerald Green is almost shining. I aimed for darker colours than what I often use here and tried out different colour combinations on scrap paper first. It was actually my son who added the Grey, because he wanted to test all the colours in the box and picked that one out first. When we tried it, I liked the way it looked together with the other colours that I had already chosen. Here you can also see that you can spot the text also where I brushed off the powder, pretty cool.

Here's a look at the back of the cards. I used the Bookworm set, but also a bunch of other stamps, since books can be about so many different things.

These are the lighter coloured side of the cards, making it easier to see what will be written there.

And some more cards.

I love the unpredictable effect of watercolours, here it almost looks like a storm is coming, but with a tiny bit of a yellow sun reflecting in the water.

Isn't this a lovely rose?

And of course, there had to be a close up of one of the cards with a bird. Books give freedom to discover places and times far away from your own.

Here's the back of the box, with more yummy colour.

The box is 3 x 4 in and is also a great size for storing business cards. I used a Black Soot marker to cover up the white mat board along the edges of the box.

Here you can see the open box and the pile of cards.

Thank you for watching! I hope you enjoyed this post. There is still time to join us in the challenge.

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:




Additional supplies:
Surfaces: Fabriano Hot Press Studio Watercolor Paper
Stamps: Darkroom Door: Prague Vol 2

28 comments:

  1. Yes Yes I enjoyed thoroughly ! I remember having similar dairy were I wrote details about the books I read .I loved the journal cards you have made the watercolor bg,stamps n quotes make an awesome mix !

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    1. Thank you so much! How fun that you also wrote down details about books.

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  2. This is a truly amazing project! I love the embossing and the cards are just wonderful stamped goodness! TFS!

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  3. I have never heard of a 'book book' but it's a great idea. I have all my books by author on a rolodex... so now I can add quotes to it - so fun. Thanks bunches Anna-Karin!! And your 'book book' is MAGNIFICENTLY WONDERFUL. Love love love it - the colors, the textures and the little cards you made are perfect. So enjoy seeing all the stamps you used and how you put them together. Really really FABULOUS project. j.

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    1. Thank you so much! I came up with the term 'book book' as a child, and just always continued to think about it like that. That sounds like a great way to organise your books!

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  4. Gorgeous box and coordinated cards, love the colour combination and the imagery you used. The white really pops against the background colours. Tracy x

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  5. What a gorgeous box! and great tutorial. Thanks for sharing.

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  6. absolutely brilliant make anna Karin and how true - hugs Rachel x

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  7. I love the way you used the Brushos and the Emerald is absolutely stunning. Your Son certainly has good taste too, the grey looks wonderful in the mix of colours you used. This is another die I think I now 'need'. Beautiful work, as always! Anne x

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    1. He was sprinkling Brushos on a scrap piece of mat board and managed to get a really stunning blend, mine didn't actually turn out quite as nice. I am saving his little piece to use on something else. :)

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  8. Anna-Karin this is a beautiful project in so many ways....totally beautiful!

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  9. Gorgeous Anna, love all the watercoloring especially the journal tags that go with the box...

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  10. What a great idea to keep track of books this way! I love all of the cool rich colors and how you have paired them with stamps. And of course the outside of that box- fabulous!

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    1. Thank you Eileen! That box die is so cute, I don't know why I didn't already have it.

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  11. What a great idea to keep track of books this way! I love all of the cool rich colors and how you have paired them with stamps. And of course the outside of that box- fabulous!

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  12. Anna Karin your work is so beautiful! I love the way the crystals blended. It might have not been intentional but the way you matched the stamps with the watercoloured papers makes each on seem to be intentional. To make each one even more special and perfect is the fact that you included your son while creating. You now have a wonderful keepsake to write down all those inspiring quotes.
    Thank you for sharing. You always inspire me! :)

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    1. Thank you so much Emily! Some where intentional, some were happy accidents. I love that with watercolour backgrounds.

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  13. Oh, this is stunning! Thank God for goodreads.com. that's where I store my read books. I love your box to though!

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    1. I should use Goodreads too. The other day I almost ordered a book I had already read.

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  14. Such a gorgeous project, A-K!! I love the look of the Brushos on matboard - so lovely! And now you've made me realize there are a couple more colors I need to get. :) And I love your book book story. Such a great idea!

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  15. Wow what a stunning project, love it!
    Groetjes Karin

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  16. I love each one of these cards-amazing project, lovely mixing of the colours!Elli

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Thank you so much for leaving a comment! Happy Crafting!